Thursday, May 03, 2007

Day 7

Thursday, May 3, 2007Well, it's by no means doubled or tripled or quadrupled, but I think it's showing signs of growth. It's definitely not dead yet. I think that adding more rye flour helped, and maybe my new attitude did too. Rose says in her blog that many people have problems getting the starter to grow, but all who persevere will eventually succeed (sounds like a fortune cookie, doesn't it?). Tonight I added half rye and half bread flour, as well as a pinch of sugar (something I saw recommended in some web site or another). However, because the blog is becoming a bit repetitive (Day 7 is like Day 6 which was like Day 5...), I won't write about my starter until it either does what it's supposed to do or I toss this one and start another one. I'm much too stubborn to give up. There WILL BE a sourdough starter in my kitchen one day.

Keep going, my second starter (my sweet sourdough starter) took two weeks to get going and I am so glad I didn't give up on it because it is the one I bake with the most. Your starter is looking right. As long as there isn't a strange colour or really obnoxious smell (vinegar, etc smell is ok), it is just doing its thing and taking it's sweet time about it. Demegrad is right about it taking time for the bacteria and the yeast to find a happy living balance. Also, if you find your house is too cool, put the oven light on for about 1 hour, and put the starter in there after you give it some food. You may find that one of the the reasons you don't think you have an active starter is it is too cool. And do keep posting about your progress, even if it is a just a little p.s. at the end of a post.

Starters certainly seem to have personalities of their own. Some please, some tease and some are downright stubborn. When they are finally mature they produced wonderful bread so it is all worth it in the end.

Breadchick,Jim turned on the heating element on the floor this afternoon and put the starter down on the floor. He thinks the heat helped perk it up, but he was afraid I'd yell at him, so he didn't leave it down too long.

Knas,Sorry you almost went crazy, but I'm glad to hear that your starter arose on the 10th day.

Doughadear,I have two pretty stubborn daughters (who may take after their mother), so I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that I have a stubborn sourdough starter.

I'm just wondering, whenever I feed my starter I usually mix it up vigorously to the point I can see some gluten developing ( of course the gluten network still breaks easily seeing that the starter is 100% hydration ). Do you do that?